1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multilayer piezoelectric element.
2. Related Background Art
An example of the conventional multilayer piezoelectric elements is a piezoelectric actuator disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-87790. The piezoelectric actuator described in this Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-87790 has an actuator body, and external electrodes formed on end faces of this actuator body. The actuator body is composed of a stack of piezoelectric sheets with internal electrodes formed thereon. In this piezoelectric actuator, one outermost layer of the actuator body serves as an active part, and the other outermost layer as a nonactive part. When a voltage is applied to the external electrodes, the active part becomes distorted, while the nonactive part remains undistorted; therefore, the actuator body is curved in the stack direction, so that the whole becomes displaced in a direction (displacement direction) nearly perpendicular to the stack direction. Here the active part is a portion that becomes distorted by piezoelectric effect, while the nonactive part is a portion that is not distorted by piezoelectric effect.